Genetically Engineered Crops: Proceed with Caution

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Abstract

Humans have been modifying plants since they were first domesticated about
10,000 years ago (Kislev 2004). One of the oldest methods of intentional modification
was selective breeding, done by finding wild types of a particular plant with desirable
characteristics and breeding them together so that the desirable characteristics will all be
found in the offspring, without too many undesirable traits thrown in. Over the course of
many generations of breeding and selecting for the desired traits, a crop with overall
acceptable and desirable characteristics can be achieved. However, this is a long and
wasteful process, and it is equally likely that the undesirable results will replace the
desirable ones. Selective breeding is an example of a change in an organism’s genome
(genetic makeup) directed by humans, and is considered genetic modification (GM).
Genetic engineering (GE) is a modern extension of GM and refers to the process in which
one or several genes are taken from the genome of one organism and added to the
genome of an unrelated organism, where natural exchange of genetic material is
impossible (Three… 2014).
1 The first genetically engineered organism (GEO) was
created in 1973 (Genetics…2004) and the first commercial product resulting from GE
was released in 1982: insulin, produced as a byproduct of E. coli cells engineered to
contain the human insulin gene (American RadioWorks 2014). GE was the subject of
controversy in its early years – so much so that in 1982, the President's Commission for
the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine issued a statement on GE, titled “Splicing
Life.” This report presented the controversy surrounding GE and advised caution –
though much of the apprehension surrounding the implications of GE was toward the
prospect of genetically modifying humans (President’s… 1982). Genetically engineered
2
crops are now widely available as consumer crops, since the failed Flavr Savr Tomato in
1992 (Bruening and Lyons 2000) – and the merits of the modified plants continue to be
debated in 2014.